Catalyst groups

1. What does a Catalyst group do?

We are really excited you are considering establishing a Catalyst group! Catalyst groups are groups of your friends who want to go on the adventure of following Jesus in your profession, industry or region. We’ve often heard the question “What does a Catalyst group do?”
 
1. Lives and speaks the gospel with other believers in your workplace or industry.
2. Communicates the gospel in word and deed to those in your workplace and discipline.
3. Translates the gospel into the thought and practice of your profession in a way which begins to see it shaped by the message and ethos of Jesus Christ.

2. What can a Catalyst group look like?

With this in mind, your group could be:

• A regular prayer group at your workplace. 
• A group of your Christian co-workers seeking to expose the exploitation of workers within your industry.
• Graduates meeting regularly to reflect theologically on their various professions, contemplating its impact on issues of justice, holiness and evangelism.
• Regional groups of Christians in the marketplace or a regular breakfast gathering of young graduates seeking to express the gospel in their various industries.
• Your catalyst group could be a group of friends from your church who want to follow Christ radically in the marketplace.
• A group of post-graduate students or faculty who support each other in their mutual commitment to express the gospel through their academic disciplines.

As you can see Catalyst groups can all be radically different. What keeps them all heading in the same direction? It’s their DNA.

3. What’s the DNA of each group?

It’s our hope that woven into the very heart of your group is our shared vision, values and convictions. Our convictions are why we do what we do. Our vision is what we are working towards and our values shape how we do it.

A Shared Vision

To see the gospel at the heart of New Zealand and New Zealand at the heart of world mission.

Shared Values

Proclaiming the truth and relevance of Jesus Christ.	Living with integrity and growing in maturity.	Applying the bible to the whole of life and relating the gospel to study.	Participating in the world-wide mission of the church.

Shared Convictions

There is one God, who is three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is the Creator and Sustainer of all things.
 
God in revealing himself inspired the Holy Scriptures so that they are entirely trustworthy and have supreme authority in matters of doctrine, faith and conduct.
 
We all were made for fellowship with God, but disobeyed him. So we all have become sinners, guilty in God's sight, under his wrath, and alienated from him.
 
Jesus Christ, God's own son, became truly human. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
 
Jesus Christ took on himself the sin of the world when he died on the cross as our representative and substitute.
 
God thereby showed his love for us and provided the only way for us to be forgiven and reconciled to Him.
 
Jesus of Nazareth was raised by God from the dead.
 
The Holy Spirit brings us to trust Christ and repent of our sins, lives in us, and develops our new life in Christ in the fellowship of the Church.
 
Jesus Christ, the living Lord, will return in person as Judge and King.
 
 
Your Catalyst group will have the assistance of a Catalyst Network Builder. A network builder is simply someone who can invest time into supporting Catalyst groups as the get established and grow.
 

4. How do I start a Catalyst group?

We wanted to give you a simple process to use as a guide.

1. Clarify your own vision for your Catalyst group.
2. Share your vision with Christian friends within your profession or industry.
3. Invite them to explore the vision together over a fantastic meal. This could be at anything from a restaurant to a BBQ.
4. Crystallise as a group of friends your vision, strategy and structure.

Here’s an example of what a vision, strategy and structure outline could look like for a new Town planning Catalyst group. Yours will more than likely be different, but this gives you an idea of what’s possible.
 

Example: Town Planning Catalyst Group, Vision, Strategy and Structure.

Vision:
To see the gospel at the heart of the town planning, urban design and land use professions in the taranaki region.
 
Strategy:                 
Living the gospel: To meet together monthly as a group of friends at Breakers restaurant in New Plymouth for a fantastic meal.
 
Communicating the gospel: To be encouraging one another to be sharing the gospel with holiness justice and evangelistically in our workplaces.
 
Translating the gospel: To be reading during the month and discussing over our meal at Breakers “Sidewalks in the kingdom—A theology of urban design", by Eric Jacobson.
 
To encourage one another to be integrating the insights we are learning from the book into our professional practices and to have someone share each time we meet how we are doing this.
 
Other: Sarah is going to nag us to each provide a column this year for the “How the gospel shapes town planning” column on the Catalyst site.
 
Jasmine is going to organise for one or two of us to drop into the Christian campus groups at Massey (Massey does a Town Planning Degree) mid year and speak about what we are doing.
 
Structure: Point person for the group.
Jasmine +(full contact details)
Secretary Daniel +(full contact details)
Column co-ordinator Sarah +(full contact details)
 

5. Write a profile of your catalyst group for the Catalyst website. (Include as many photos of yourselves as possible.) 

Example: Town Planning Catalyst Group—Profile.

Hi, We are a group of recent graduates committed to following Jesus in the disciplines of Town Planning, Urban Design and Land Use in the Taranaki region.
 
Our vision is to see the gospel at the heart of the town planning, urban design and land use professions in “The Naki”.
 
It’s our conviction that the biblical story speaks significantly to these disciplines. We are seeking to be a community of friends who wrestle with how the gospel shapes our town planning, urban design and land use practices. As serious as that sounds (and it is) we seek to have a blast doing it.
 
We meet together monthly at Breakers. It’s a fantastic evening filled with great food, a lot of laughs, good discussion and a healthy dose of prayer. If you are working in our disciplines in the region you’d be warmly welcome to come along.
 
We’ve committed ourselves to reading during the month and discussing over the meal “Sidewalks in the Kingdom—A theology of urban design", by Eric Jacobson. Once we’ve worked our way through that we’ll choose another book.
 
Each month we encourage one another to be integrating the insights we are learning from the book into our professional practices and to have someone share each time we meet how we are doing this.
 
We want to be a group that is encouraging one another to be expressing the gospel with holiness justice and evangelistically in our workplaces.
 
Did you notice how the profile fleshes out the Vision, Strategy and Structure of your group? Once you’ve developed your Vision, Strategy and Structure and written up your profile the next steps are straightforward.
 

6. Submit your profile

...along with your Vision, Strategy and Structure document, photos etc to Mark Grace (markg [at] tscf [dot] org [dot] nz).

7. Mark and a regional network builder will seek to meet with you

...and your group before you launch. They’ll be keen to support and encourage you.

8. Commit to evaluating how the group is going after 6 months.

9. What if it’s just me who wants to start a Catalyst group?

No problem! Crystallise your vision, strategy and structure. Develop a web profile for your new group and submit it to Mark. Mark and a regional network builder will meet with you to see how you can be supported as you launch your vision. Once your potential new groups profile is on the Catalyst website you can begin inviting friends in your wider networks to visit it and catch the vision. We’ll be praying God gives them a sense of your vision.